Abbas meeting representatives of Palestinian resistance factions. (Reuters)

CAIRO, January 22 (IslamOnline.net) – In his painstaking endeavor to convince Palestinian resistance factions to declare a new ceasefire with  Israel, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking international guarantees that  Israel would honor the would-be truce, reported a leading British newspaper on Saturday, January 22.

During talks with leaders of the resistance groups in Gaza, Abbas proposed a halt to anti-Israel attacks in swap for international guarantees, a political role in the Palestinian government and a commitment to stick to the inalienable Palestinian rights, said The Guardian.

“He (Abu Mazen) said, give me a commitment and give me some time,” Ziad Abu-Amr, the Palestinian leader's chief negotiator, told the British daily.

“Then he will go to the relevant parties and ask: what will Israel do in return for this?”

Abbas was to meet Saturday members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

He had already held closed-door talks with representatives of the Islamic Jihad as well as with the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees.

Abbas’s meeting with Hamas leaders that was expected to take place on Friday did not materialize.

The new Palestinian leader has been engaged in talks with resistance factions leaders in Gaza on reaching a common ground to halt attacks against Israel.

Palestinian security forces were deployed Friday, January 21, across northern Gaza in an effort to prevent the launch of mortar attacks against Israel, a decision welcomed by Washington.

“We are encouraged by the steps that President Abbas has taken to gain control of the security situation in Gaza,” US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Guarantees

Abbas is expected to approach international parties, particularly the  United States and Egypt, to guarantee that the Sharon government would abide by any ceasefire reached with the resistance groups.

“The international community is watching and it will know who is serious and who is not,” Abu-Amr told The Guardian.

Arab countries, particularly Syria and Lebanon, were holding intensive talks with Palestinian resistance groups to broker a unilateral ceasefire, a well-kept Arab diplomatic source told IslamOnline.net Saturday, January 15.

Meanwhile, an Israeli security official said Saturday that Israel could halt military attacks and incursions into Palestinian cities if Abu Mazen’s efforts to broker a ceasefire bear fruits.

“I would say in simple language that we would respond to quiet. If there is no reason to carry out a certain operation, we wouldn't do so,” Giora Eiland, the head of Israel's National Security Council, told Israel Radio.

A unilateral truce declared by Palestinian resistance factions on June 29, 2003, collapsed after Israeli forces assassinated Ismail Abu Shanab, a Hamas political leader.

Palestinian factions said that by assassinating Abu Shanab Israel killed stone dead the three-month ceasefire.

“The Americans feel guilty about it. They say they didn't do enough for Abu Mazen in 2003,” Abu-Amr said.